Thursday, January 28, 2010

A Little Kitchen Porn

As I mentioned, my sister developed an immutable ambition to create the following for our wedding as favors:



We're not sure yet whether the wedding cake cookie towers (WCCT) will work out, but even if they don't, she is trying a bunch of cookie recipes along the way, as well as testing their freezing power. If the WCCT don't work out, at least we will still have a cookie recipe to use for plain ol', non WCCT favors.

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Hi, y’all!  I am 3pugmama, the magnificent, the marvelous, the sister of the mostest Miss Pug!  She asked me to write a ‘guest post’ re: the Making Of The Favor Bag Cookies.  Since I am, well, DOING ALL OF THE WORK.

To begin.  LovelyPug (as I like to call her when I am feeling affectionate) told me of her vision of lime and lavender shortbread cookies.  Nothing too complicated, she said.  Just throw ‘em in a bag, tie a name and table# to them, and set ‘em out on a table, she said.  How wonderful! I said.  What a lovely complement to your overall wedding color scheme! Not to mention LovelyPug is, some would say unreasonably, obsessed with lavender.

Wait a minute, I said.  Where the hell are these cookies coming from?

"You’re going to make them!" PITAS said (Pain-In-The-Ass-Sister, as I like to call her when I am feeling annoyed).

And she commenced with the furious emailing of potential cookie recipes.  Out of the contenders, I narrowed it down to shortbread (this, this, and this) and sugar cookies.   I decided to find us the best recipe, which could then perhaps be used in the WCCT.  I also wanted to test how well the dough froze.

So one fine morning when I was feeling particularly energetic, I catalogued my pantry, and made a quick trip to the local Whole Paycheck for extra ingredients (must. use. fair. trade. must not contribute to grower enslavement).



For Xtreme lime flavor, I used lime zest, juice and extract.  For ultimate lavender flavor, I used organic lavender buds (from my garden! Picked and dried by yours truly and the PITAS) whizzed with sugar, as well as home-made lavender extract.



Since this was going to be purely for taste and longevity (the real cookies will be baked at a later date and then frozen for the event), it was a simple matter of rolling the dough into logs for the fridge.

For the real thing, we'll roll out the dough and use a round cookie cutter. For now, feast your eyes on raw cookie dough logs.



After a couple of days’ chill in the fridge, and on a morning when I was feeling particularly manic (read: being completely ignored by the husband), I sliced those babies up and baked them.






I was optimistically worried I would have a problem narrowing down the options.  STOOPID.  The first batch, um, MELTED.



The second batch tasted like flour and butter, which would be fine, except that I had wanted them to taste like LIME COOKIES.  Luckily, the lavender shortbread and both lime & lavender sugar cookies were a hit. With the husband.  And, well, the 3 pugs.



(Ignore the marred one in the middle -- I may have gotten a little too eager)

They’re all now safely tucked away in the freezer.  Waiting for the moment a month from now, when I will present them to PITAS and get the final verdict – which cookie will reign supreme?!

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